6 Effortless Tactics For Energy When You’re Feeling “Blah”.

You crack open the door of your White 2011 Toyota Camry.

The swirls of Texas heat invade the cabin. You get out. One step down and the pavement warms the soles of your shoes.

It’s that ripping heat on a quiet Labor Day weekend.

You didn’t drink enough water today and the Mr. Sun knows it. You ate a few extra cookies after yesterday’s Hospital Tumor Board. The afternoon cortisol wave owned you.

You’re feeling “Blah”.

But you don’t have to feel this way all-day.

#1 Scotch.

Pull out your finest Scotch. You know. The stuff you keep around for the Holidays. Or a January blizzard. Or today: A gloomy Labor Day Weekend.

You pull out the 12-year Glenfarclas and set it on the kitchen counter.

But you don’t pour it. You just look at it for a second. You acknowledge the easy path would be to throw back a few of these and put on some music.

There.

Now you acknowledged it. Turn around and grab your GymBoss Timer which has been pre-set for 40-minutes of stretching intervals. Hold each stretch for 2-minutes, then switch. Pull out your work-out mat.

Put away the Scotch for now.

Delay the reward until after you get through 40-minutes of stretching. Then you can have all the Scotch, pizza and wings you want.

#2 Stretch.

With a desk job there are a few classic patterns of muscular compensation which occur:

Tight hips

Decreased thoracic spine mobility

Tight calves

Tight hamstrings

Weak abdomen

Weak lower traps and rhomboids

Pick a timed session using an offline digital timer or an old-school wind-up analog timer. If you must, put on a podcast, audiobook or some music. Ideally a quality stretching or Yoga session should be free of excess stimulation.

The GymBoss timer is good because you can set it and roll into a stretching routine without having to think.

Thinking is bad.

“Train the reflex and the submission is already there.” - Dan Inosanto

You start doing some deep lunges and hamstring stretches. Maybe a Downward Dog or Two. Each for a 2-minute hold. Paired with deep breathing. Just 2-minutes each. This isn’t so bad. The tension from work starts to dissipate.

Only 38-minutes to go.

This is a minor commitment. You know this session ends soon. The gently swirled room temperature Scotch is waiting for you at the end of this session.

Envisioning the reward, you go through the next 9 stretches.

#3 Mess around with a Slant Board.

You made it to the 20-minute mark of your timed stretching session. You’re still feeling “Blah” but at least 30% less “Blah” than you were before you started stretching.

The slow movements got your blood flowing a little bit.

With 20-minutes left, you stand on your Slant Board. This affords you a nice deep calf and soles stretch for the next 2x minutes. Since you’re up on the slant board already, you turn around and do 20 reps of single-leg raises on each side. Gently warming up the medial fibers of your quadriceps muscles.

You exhale deeply when you come up to the top of the movement. At this point you’ve forgotten about the Scotch entirely. Pizza and wings are a distant memory.

Now you want to move.

#4 Foam Rolling.

With 10-minutes left on the GymBoss Timer you lie back on your foam roller. You lean back and forward, opening up your thoracic spine with each movement. Then you do a minute on the front and sides of your legs.

You’re getting more energy.

Think about the last time you felt “Blah”. Each time you made one minor improvement. With the years you’ve crafted an effortless sequence of physical activities which move your slowly away from “Blah” and into an “Okay” to “Medium” energy level.

5-minutes left.

#5 Do some Abs.

With the remaining 5-minutes you notice that from the foam rolling, you are already in the supine position. So you might as well do a low-pressure set of 60-slow, smooth bicycle crunches. Nobody’s watching. Go ahead. I won’t tell anyone.

The crunches lead you into a 60-second side plank on one side. You get a “Beep” from our friend the GymBoss Timer. You switch over to your other side for another 60-second plank.

And as you hold this plank, would you believe it, now you’re in eye-level view of your shiny white running shoes. They’re a foot from your face. You notice inside each shoe is a fresh pair of black socks.

Those are your favorite socks.

Who would have thought the shoes and socks would be ready to go at a moments notice. The timer beeps for the last time, signaling the end of your 40-minute session. Now you feel “Medium-High” instead of “Blah”.

Is this feeling real?

How do I know this is not some prank? While you are contemplating whether this is real, you start putting on the cushy black socks. Then you begin lacing your running shoes snugly on your feet. Right then Left.

#6 Go Run.

One foot after the other.

Since you're not sure what’s going on, you decide the only way to figure things out would be to go for a “Test Jog” around the block. Not for exercise, but merely as an internal experiment. The results will not be published.

This is for in-house quality control.

Once you find the results of the experiment, you can come back inside. 35-minutes pass. You have now made 1.5 laps around your apartment complex - just under 4-miles. A deep sweat is removed through your pores.

You are not confused anymore.

The endorphins are flowing through your head. You have found some focus. You surge on the last hill before your apartment, sucking in a big gulp of oxygen. You slow down to a walk. The drone of friendly Texas Cicadas in those big oak trees sprawled over the neighborhood streets.

You round the corner and bounce up the stairs to your apartment.

The pristine air-conditioning envelopes you. It’s almost euphoric. You kick off your shoes and head to the kitchen fridge. Pull out the glass pitcher of water. Pour a tall glass for yourself.

You can feel the chilled water each centimeter down your esophagus.

And when you turn around to set down your glass. Its the bottle of fine Scotch. It looks beautiful. That clear amber color. No longer feeling “Blah”, you pick up the bottle of 12-year Glenfarclas and put it back in the storage pantry in the other room.

Save it for Thanksgiving.